


Sea Salt Summer

by KaiserinAstraia



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Canon Compliant, Friendship, Gen, Treasured Memories Zine, Xion-centric, dumb kids at the tower, during 358/2 days, pre-KH3, zine fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-23 02:59:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17675156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaiserinAstraia/pseuds/KaiserinAstraia
Summary: Xion's whole life tasted like summer.





	Sea Salt Summer

**Author's Note:**

> My piece in the Treasured Memories Zine. It was an honor to mod & write for it! I wanted the sea salt trio to get some love, so here's this.

Xion’s whole life tasted like summer. Salty, sweet, and melting in the hot air. It dripped precious seconds onto the yellow bricks of Twilight Town’s clock tower, evaporated as laughter up into the sky, and left blue stains behind; evidence that Axel, Roxas, and Xion were there even if it was said they didn’t exist at all. Despite all the worlds she had been to, and her bed in The World That Never Was, the thin brick railing of the tower was her life, her home – or maybe, it was the two Nobodies next to her, their hair shining red and orange in the setting sun.

“Oh, I could definitely do it,” Axel replied to Roxas, his speech animated by the Sea-Salt ice-cream he was waving around, “But that would require standing.” His other hand held his weight behind him, but from the dozens of afternoons he spent here with the two of them, staying balanced was effortless even sitting on the thin brick.

“Prove it then,” Roxas replied, smile wicked in the dare, “I’ll buy the ice-cream next time if you do.”

Xion giggled into her hand while Axel sighed. “I’m too old for this,” he argued. But then he made the fatal mistake of looking between the two of them, their eyes sparkling expectantly and mouths quirked in excited, snarky smiles. He groaned, turning to stand, “Alright, alright, but if I fall I will haunt you in the afterlife.”

While Xion and Roxas scrambled off, with a grunt Axel lifted himself to stand on the railing, the tips of his shoes hanging past the end of the brick. He looked completely unconcerned. When he saw Roxas and Xion’s twin amazed gazes, he smirked, and spun on his heel with gusto. Hands in pockets, he took a few steps across the narrow ledge. “See?” he said, shoulders raised in a shrug, “it’s easy.” Of course, as soon as his voice trailed off he nearly misstepped and faltered, wobbling slightly. 

“Axel!” Xion and Roxas simultaneously called to their friend, battle-hardened instincts compelling them to reach for him.

But he’d already re-balanced. “Aww,” he cooed with a smile, “you guys must like me or something.” He jumped down from the ledge, releasing a gravelly sigh on impact. 

Roxas scoffed. “You probably did that on purpose. Let me try.” Before either of them could protest he lifted himself up to stand where Axel had ended his tightrope walk. He walked to the other side, turned, and walked halfway before jumping down without incident. He grinned with clear victory, and Axel scowled, waving his hand like it was inconsequential.

“Me next!” Xion exclaimed with a grin. She only struggled a little more than Roxas had to stand on the thin line of brick, both palms pressing hard against it as she lifted up. The slight summer breeze twisted and untwisted her short hair when she stood, bringing with it the salty sea air. It was with a strange exhilaration she breathed in deep, gazing over the orange, waning town down to the beach she'd never been to, while thinking of another coast of sand and waves, the one with pretty Thalassa shells and longing she wasn't meant to feel.

It caught in her throat, and settled like a sickness in her chest. She couldn’t stop gazing out over to the beach, wondering what it’d be like to run on the sand as someone who was complete.

“ _ No frowning, no sad face! Okay? _ ” 

Xion blinked. Where had that… come from? She’d thought it like a repeat of something someone else had told her. In her previous life? No, it was all wrong; it wasn’t  _ hers,  _ somehow. She shook her head, but it did nothing to clear the overwhelming deja vu and sense that she wasn’t  _ here _ or  _ anywhere _ and –

“Xion!” Roxas exclaimed, instantly reaching for her. With a startled, hard chill through her body she realized she was  _ falling _ , nothing beneath her feet. Xion teetered, and looked around wildly; Axel called her name too, but all she saw was the flash of his sharp green eyes. The two boys grabbed an arm and tugged, causing her body to flop toward them gracelessly. She knocked into Roxas who knocked into Axel until they all fell in a pile onto the hard unforgiving brick tower floor. 

It was silent except for their breathing, invisible puffs of air lost forever in the vast, empty sky – lost, just like Xion, mindlessly collecting hearts because that’s what she was told to do. Lost, because she wasn’t  _ just _ a Nobody, she was the sham, the puppet, the shallow copy.

And yet, they had pulled her to solid ground. 

In a daze, she stared at Axel and Roxas, her elbows and hip aching from the fall. Though she wanted to, she couldn’t ignore the throbs of her body protesting the damage. The fall and the pain was so  _ real _ . 

And so were they. “You guys…” Xion said, thoughtlessly, “really saved me.”

Pausing from rubbing their future bruises, the two boys met her eyes blankly. “Did you think we wouldn’t?” Axel asked, frowning. 

Xion didn’t get the chance to answer. “Of course we did,” Roxas said matter-of-factly, “you’re our best friend.” Axel nodded.

“Best friends…” she thought aloud, then remembered something Roxas had told her, that Axel had told him. “ _ Friends eat ice-cream together, and talk and laugh about the stupidest things _ .” Her eyes fell to the side, where Roxas’s half-eaten ice cream was. It must have been discarded when he’d reached for her, and was now lying on the ground melting. Another cyan stain seeping into the stone to stay through rain or shine.

Another memory of best friends immortalized in a sea-salt summer.

 

**Author's Note:**

> @KaiserinAstraia on Twitter & kaiserin-astraia on Tumblr!


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